The vice president also announced the creation of a new Federal Trade Commission Web site (www.consumer.gov) that lets consumers shield their credit records and driver's licenses from public view, and allows them to remove their names and addresses from direct-mailing lists.

"Americans should have the right to choose whether their personal information is disclosed," Gore said in a commencement speech at New York University. "They should have the right to know how, when and how much of that information is being used. And they should have the right to see it themselves, to know if it's accurate."

The vice president, who plans a presidential run in the year 2000, is trying to strike a chord with consumers who are concerned about the free flow of unauthorized personal records on the Internet, industry observers said. The new online privacy plan is likely to be a key part of Gore's evolving high-tech platform, they said.

"It's a start to heighten the sensitivity about privacy," said Barry Steinhardt, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties organization in San Francisco. "The devil is in the details, however. Whether the Web site or the other edicts are practical remains to be seen."

A spokesman for the Direct Marketing Association, a Washington, D.C.-based group that represents 3,600 companies worldwide, said it will comply with the government's plan. Many of its members already offer consumers online agreements that establish strict guidelines on what personal information can be used, he said.

Simmering consumer concerns about confidential information floating in cyberspace boiled into full-fledged paranoia in late 1996 after two highly publicized instances.

First, an elderly woman in Ohio received sexually explicit e-mail from a prisoner in Texas, who gleaned personal data about her through direct-marketing company Metromail while in prison. The matter is still in litigation.

Later, database company Lexis-Nexis admitted that it paid credit bureaus for Social Security numbers and credit information on millions of Americans in order to resell it to direct marketers. The ready availability of private information has led to escalating instances of "identity thefts," in which scam artists assume someone else's identity and run up exorbitant credit card bills.

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The ensuing public furor has prompted legislation that would restrict the flow of personal information online.

The Personal Information Privacy Act, sponsored by Senator Charles Grassley, R- Iowa, would prohibit the distribution of personal information such as Social Security numbers and credit card information on the Internet. It is currently before the Senate Finance Committee.

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